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Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was a “central pivot” at organised sex parties with prostitutes that were described as "carnage" by witnesss, according to a French newspaper on Wednesday. DSK is currently awaiting trial on charges of “aggravated pimping”.

Judges investigating an alleged pimping ring in the northern French city of Lille, known as the “Carlton Affair” believe DSK was “the king of the party”, according to claims in Le Figaro on Wednesday.

The sex orgies, described by witnesses as "carnage with mattresses all over the floor", centred around Strauss-Kahn and only took place when he was around, the judges argue.

Last month judges announced that DSK would face trial on charges of “aggravated pimping” in connection to the sex parties that were held at the Carlton Hotel in Lille.

Their decision to send the one-time likely candidate for the French presidency on trial came despite prosecutors requesting charges be dropped against the former IMF chief.

In its Wednesday edition, Le Figaro published the judges' explanations, claiming to have had access to the legal documents, extracts of which were also quoted.

DSK has always denied he had any knowledge the women who took part in the sordid soirées were paid, but according to Le Figaro French judges say Strauss-Kahn knew the “girls” were paid professionals.

Justifying their decision to uphold the pimping charges, the judges claim DSK even made an apartment available in the evenings for the parties - "a material act of pimping" they say.

Le Figaro also quotes testimony from two of the prostitutes who took part in the parties. One of them claims that everyone present knew well that she, like the others, was paid to be present.

The judges have dismissed the defence that these were simply "libertine" sex parties and argued that it was not just a question of "debauchery" but of "ordering services."

DSK however has vowed to fight the charges when he goes on trial next year.

One of his lawyers, Richard Malka, denounced the decision to go to trial as part of a "relentless" judicial campaign against his client.

He said Strauss-Kahn would appear at the trial "to denounce the absurdity and abnormality of this aggravated pimping complaint".

The Carlton case is one of a series of probes that were launched in the aftermath of Strauss-Kahn's 2011 arrest in New York on suspicion of sexually assaulting a hotel chamber maid.

French writer Tristane Banon accused him of trying to rape her in 2003. Investigators concluded that while there was evidence of sexual assault, the alleged attack had occurred too long ago to be prosecuted.

Strauss-Kahn was also investigated over an allegation that he had taken part in the gang rape of a Belgian prostitute. The case was dropped when she recanted and said she had consented to sex.

Earlier in June, The Local reported how Italian journalist Myrta Merlino claimed DSK sexually assaulted her in his swanky hotel suite on the fringes of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on an unspecified date in the “late 1990s.”